Your Floor Plan – Design it with an operational perspective
By Jeff B. Katz

Every restaurateur wants a space that enables him to execute his concept. The overall design and the space itself are never the end product. The end product is a successful, functioning business where the owner, operator or chef achieves his dream and realizes his objective.

But, getting from the dream to a solid concept and then to an operating restaurant is a challenge. There is a lot of excitement and creative energy in planning a new restaurant.  Often, the tedious, necessary early steps are overlooked or rushed to get to the more glamorous, fun activities such as finding a space, designing the bar and kitchen, checking out new equipment and accessories, finding chairs and fabrics, picking colors, finishes, china, glassware and accessories.

By the time you are ready to begin thinking about the plan or layout of your restaurant, you should have completed several tasks. Spend the time and energy to address these activities. Make the necessary, important decisions that will determine the future course of your planning and the ultimate success of your restaurant. All the decisions you make regarding your customers or markets, style of service, menu offerings and pricing, overall image and concept will impact how your restaurant is designed. So, it is clear that these decisions must be made or at least considered before you start sketching out your restaurant.

The pre-design tasks:
Don’t start drawing, don’t talk to a real estate broker, don’t interview architects, don’t start shopping for furniture. Don’t waste anybody’s time until you have documented very clearly what it is you are trying to accomplish by developing a Business Plan and Operational Plan.
           
Business Plan – This document will provide, among other things, specific information regarding your customers (markets), hours of operation, menu offerings, service and operating procedures, image and concept, design and operational features. Since your Business Plan is the core document that presents your overall concept and vision, you need to be clear about your desires.  This is where you make it clear that you want a water feature, display wine room, exhibition kitchen or private dining room. This is the document that dictates the number of seats and seating mix, the number of bar stools and style of bar and lounge. Your financial projections and budgets, critical components of the Business Plan, will be based on this information and supported by schedules and line item budgets keyed to these assumptions. As these assumptions evolve these financial reports must be updated.

Operational Plan – This is a written, detailed walk through of your restaurant from back to front and front to back, as seen through the eyes of your manager, chef, servers and bussers, bartender and customers. The purpose of this is to determine what is required functionally to operate your restaurant.  If you regard the design process as a complicated puzzle, these are the pieces. Without them, it would be impossible to put your restaurant together. And, without a comprehensive list of “pieces” you may create a plan that is missing a vital component.

The manager may be looking for delivery and service access, security issues, office space requirements, employee bathrooms and changing area, secure storage for liquor, beer and wine, POS systems, cashier versus server banks.  He may also be thinking about special features such as a cheese cave or wine room.

As the chef, you focus on the receiving area, trash storage, food and dry goods storage requirements, preparation and cooking space, equipment requirements, what tasks are performed by the servers – bread service, soups, dressings, deserts. The chef thinks about work stations and staffing requirements as well as specialty preparation needs like baking, fresh pasta, butchering area or exhibition pizza/roasting oven.

When you wear the server hat, you think about server stations and beverage service requirements. You think about tray service or hand service or cart service. You consider food runners and back waiters. The busser thinks about bussing areas, set-up storage, dish room functions – flatware soaking, linen drop-off. The bartender view considers draft beer, automatic glass washer versus three compartment sink, wine storage, depth of liquor inventory and display needs, specialty drink requirements, number of bartender stations.

The customer thinks about finding the place (signage), parking, finding the front door, hanging his coat, finding the host area, the bar; waiting space; where the bathrooms are.  A popular men’s magazine noted that finding the restrooms without looking like you don’t know where you are going is a major concern (for men). Looking “stupid” or like the “new guy” does not encourage camaraderie. By the way, the magazine suggested that you wait for someone else to go first and see where he went. These issues are important.

Researching and studying other similar operations and noting what they do and how they do it is smart planning. Why re-invent the wheel, if you don’t have to. I recall working with an operator who wanted to develop a bread station at his server area that was visible to his guests. He wanted them to know that he used fresh baked breads and sliced the large loaves for each table. After brainstorming several convoluted schemes and designs, we visited a restaurant in San Francisco to check out their bar. There, in plain view of the customers was a simple, very functional bread station – loaves in bins above, wood cutting board with integral side and rear splashes like a bakers table and a hole in one corner for the crumbs that emptied into a drawer with a removable pan. It was a clean, simple and inexpensive solution that made the point – fresh baked bread cut and served to order - very clear. We had a drink to our good fortune.

Armed with this data, you can then establish and annotate a list of spaces needed to operate your restaurant.  In the notes, indicate the size of these areas, functional requirements, and questions to answer later or design issues that are important to you.
You do not need to put your ideas down in any particular order. As the design process
evolves, you will continually update your notes, Operational Plan and Business Plan. There will also be building and health code issues and utilities issues that may require professional involvement.

The schedule below is a sample.

This list will still leave many issues unresolved.  That is typical. Throughout the conceptual planning process, more questions will be raised and their answers will help steer the design.

Combining the Business Plan, Operational Plan and space requirements schedule, you should have a good grasp of your concept and the spaces needed to make it work. And, armed with this information, you can determine the size and features of the space you require.

Rules of Thumb:
You will encounter many “rules of thumb” to guide you when determining the amount of space you need for your overall restaurant and for allocating space within your restaurant. While these formulas may point you in the right direction, every restaurant is different and these percentages, as you can see from the chart below, vary greatly. It will be worthwhile to develop a conceptual plan for a potential space before committing to a lease or purchase to ensure that the space works for you. Additionally, local building code requirements, general circulation, access and egress and ADA compliance requirements may significantly impact these figures.

With that disclaimer, here is a chart based on some different restaurant types that may serve as a planning guide.

• Workable scale, usually ¼” = 1’-0”.
• Demising walls – Your space may be part of a larger space or building. The plan should clearly indicate the boundaries of your space.
• Guest Entry door
• Delivery access and receiving door
• Trash area
• Stairs, ramps and floor elevation changes
• Columns, chases and other fixed elements that encroach into your space
• Outdoor patio area, sidewalk seating area

• See if all the pieces fit into the proposed space
• Create a workable, conceptual floor plan that shows the entry, waiting area, bar, seating, kitchen, server stations and bathrooms.
• Design your kitchen and bar to include the necessary storage, work areas and equipment
• Develop an overall plan that represents your vision and enables you to function as you describe in your Business Plan and Operational Plan.

Depending on your skill level, you may develop the conceptual plan as a sketch to illustrate how you expect the space to work and then hand it off to your architect/interior designer/restaurant designer, or you may work with a simple CAD program and develop the drawings to a sufficient level to enable you to work directly with a contractor.

A word of caution: Many operators have developed their own restaurant floor plan and have built their restaurants successfully without the guidance and talent of an architect or designer. Many have also attempted this and have shot themselves in the foot, caused serious delays, incurred significant cost overruns and prayed for a “do over”.

Building code requirements, life safety issues and the cost of equipment, construction and materials usually limit complete do-it-yourself projects to minor remodels. How much time and effort you want to devote to actually planning and designing your restaurant combined with your ability will determine how far you go.  Know what you don’t know and think about where your talent and time are most valuable. While you may enjoy the design process, you can remain intimately involved and make all the necessary decisions without doing the actual drawing.  It is often a trade-off of time for dollars, assuming you have the ability.

Now you may draw . .  almost: First, if the building is existing or under construction and you can visit the site and walk the space, do it. Standing in the space will give you a very good feel for how the restaurant will flow and where different elements – the bar, host, raised dining areas, etc. -  should go.

Buy a roll of  lightweight sketch paper, use a scale and soft pencils. Overlay the sketch paper on the plan you received from the landlord. Then, working from the general to the specific, you will develop your plan. The initial “bubble diagram” allocates the spaces and establishes the overall flow of the restaurant. Using freehand circles or ovals, indicate where you want the functional areas (See dwg#1). Then, begin to refine each area to scale. The advantage of the sketch paper is that you can continually overlay sheet upon sheet as you refine your plan, discarding the lower, more preliminary sketches as you go. Where you start is not important since you will make many changes and refinements as the plan becomes more specific.

DRAWING #1

After you are satisfied with the general layout of the bubble diagram, block out the areas. For example, if you want a 12 stool bar and you allocate 24” spacing, your bar will be approximately twenty four feet long. Back bar coolers are typically 24” to 30” deep. Many operators like a 36” work aisle. Front underbar equipment projects about 12” beyond the front face of the bartender’s bar edge and bar tops are usually 24” wide. Based on these “thumb rules” the overall depth of the bar would be about 8’-6” from the back wall to the customer edge of the bar top. Therefore, the blocked out area for your bar would be 8’6” x 24’-0”.

Use the bubble diagram approach within the kitchen as well since this is a functionally critical space. Another rule of thumb: work from receiving to storage, to bulk preparation, to finishing, plating, serving and pick-up. The location of support areas should not be undervalued. The dishwashing area needs to be readily accessible to the dining room, without imposing the noise and light into the dining area. The ice machine needs to be accessible to the bar and kitchen without creating unnecessary cross traffic. The janitors closet needs to be accessible to the public rest rooms for cleaning and emergencies without interfering with the server pick up or cooking activities.

Critical dimensions:
When you create a drawing to scale, it is essential that you use accurate or at least reasonable dimensions and sizes. Drawing tables smaller than they really are, or showing chairs that are not extended as they would be when occupied, may show more tables and seats.  But, reality will eventually rear its ugly head and you will only be deceiving yourself.

While local codes dictate aisle spacing for exiting and ADA compliance requires very specific dimensions for entryways, vestibules, exit ways and bathroom access, other dimensions are more flexible and governed more by the operators preference, past experience or the realities of the space.  Here too, seeing what works in other restaurants can be very revealing, especially when it comes to seating. In bars, when you are considering hi-tops versus standard height tables, you can get a sense from other operations whether the low tables are private enough or do the guests feel towered over by adjacent, standing bar customers. You can also gauge table spacing and service aisles from other successful restaurants. I would suggest that you carry a small, 6 ft. tape measure and, being discreet, measure table sizes, chair to chair distances, space between deuces and aisle space when you can. Many restaurateurs will gladly share this information with you. Others, especially if you are going after the same market, will be less inclined to assist. You can also bring a small notebook and make notes and sketches of features and layouts that appeal to you. Believe me, every operator takes cues, ideas and inspiration from other successes. My wife’s hair or shoulder is in a lot of photos of restaurants when my clandestine but primary focus was on a bar detail or architectural feature.

The following list will provide you with a start as you develop your plan. These dimensions are reasonable and fairly typical. But, restaurateurs can and do operate successfully outside these guidelines. Most of these dimensions refer to the depth (front to back) of equipment or aisle space since the length will depend on the size and quantity of equipment you choose.

Revisions/Refinements/Reflections/Changes –

As long as your restaurant is in the design and drawing stages, do not hesitate to make changes and refinements. Study various options and see how they work. Change and refine the plan as many times as necessary to eliminate any conflicts, bad seats, awkward sight lines or work stations that don’t work or are too tight.  Prepare sketches of your wait stations and cooks line to see if all your requirements fit the space. Have your staff or restaurateur friends review the plan and get their input and ideas. This is the time to let your imagination and ideas flourish. Do not eliminate elements or compromise because you think they will cost too much or bust your budget. Get your ideas down on paper, create your ideal restaurant and then when you have it where you want it, update and refine your detailed, line item budgets. After that, you can decide if and where you must make budget cuts.

Restaurant owners spend countless hours researching table top accessories, specialty equipment, furniture and fixtures for their new places. They know that these details distinguish them from their competition and enhance their opportunities for success. But, the time you spend on the planning process and the resulting conceptual space plan of your restaurant will have a far greater impact on your ability to succeed. Unlike menus, colors and furnishings, the plan of your restaurant cannot be replaced or changed easily. Yet, many owners and operators leave the critical decisions that determine the overall plan to others.

While design professionals will play an important role in bringing your conceptual plan and ideas to reality, the plan of your restaurant should be based on your operational needs. And, these decisions must come from you. The aesthetic considerations will follow.

Biographical data: Jeff B. Katz, a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and Principal of GalaDesigns Company, based in Denver, Colorado, has been involved in the planning, design, development and construction of restaurants since 1969. He is author of the book, “Restaurant Planning, Design & Construction – The Survival Manual for Owners, Operators and Developers”, published in 1997 by John Wiley & Sons.